Sunday, August 10, 2008

Beijing Olympics

So what did everyone think about the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics? The Times did an article about director Zhang Zimou and how he has transformed from a renegade director of movies critical of the government into the government sanctioned director of the opening ceremonies of the Olympiad. Well, you can certainly expect spectacle from the director of Hero and he did deliver.

Calvin and I were visiting his Mom in DC and we all watched Friday night. I always find these ceremonies corny but fascinating and kind of moving, and this one was no exception. I loved seeing Yao Ming walking with the tiny kid who survived the Szechuan earthquake, (though on a cynical note, it did remind me of the Apple commercial with Yao and Mini-me from a couple of years back.)

I also think it is interesting to see how a lot of commercials on American TV during the Olympics are clearly aimed at the Chinese market. These Olympics are marketing China to the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is marketing their products and services back to China.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi! This post on the Olympics is great – thanks. Did you know you can grab live images from www.picapp.com - Check it out!

Kate C. said...

Despite the fact that nationalism is scary, I love the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

jody said...

me too.

Kym said...

Mom and I watched them as well. I love seeing all the countries in the parade and quizzing myself on geography. I think it is a good reminder that so many people and places exist in the world and since my work centers on the study of nationalism, it is a fascinating exercise for me. And I thought the way they ended the lighting of the torch ceremony was magnificent. As always the commentators were rather insulting and annoying, but that is part of watching the Olympics too.